Groups of students gather for Thanksgiving dinner at Ford Dining Court.

On-campus students welcomed back the highly popular Thanksgiving dinner hosted by Purdue Dining & Culinary on Thursday, November 19.

The dinner is an opportunity for residents to enjoy a celebration of the holiday featuring traditional Thanksgiving foods. Dining courts welcomed throngs of students with decorations and a robust menu of dishes including roast turkeys, glazed and smoked ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, traditional stuffing, vegetables, cranberry sauce and dinner rolls. The dessert spread included various pies, pumpkin desserts and cinnamon roll casserole.

Thanksgiving spread at Wiley Dining Court.

The creativity of Dining & Culinary was also showcased with several specialty, Thanksgiving-themed dishes elsewhere. 1bowl @ Meredith, a residential dining location featuring trendy food bowl options, served a Thanksgiving bowl filled with turkey, potatoes, stuffing and vegetables smothered in gravy. Pete’s Za, also located in Meredith, served a holiday-themed pizza made from similar ingredients. Vegetarians and vegans could also enjoy the taste of the season with tofurkey and vegan gravy.

Pieces of pie served at Wiley Dining Court.

The meal was highly anticipated by students after being unable to gather for community meals last fall due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This meant that two classes of students were experiencing the tradition for the first time. A group of residents from Cary Quad shared that they had heard from older students that the dinner was not to be missed and that it lived up to the hype.

Students pose while filling their plates at Ford Dining Court.

For other students, the meal was an opportunity to enjoy a relaxing evening with friends before the holiday break.  

Students share laughs over Thanksgiving dinner at Wiley Dining Court.

“This is like our floor’s version of a ‘Friendsgiving,’” said one RA. “We obviously can’t all be together on Thanksgiving so it’s just cool to get together with our friends and celebrate. We got most of our floor to come over together.”

Enjoy more photos from the meals served in Wiley and Ford Dining Courts below.